The emperor’s new coup
Early last week, his administration was busy swatting doubtful rumors that the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines had ended his self-exile in The Netherlands and had somehow slipped into the country under a pseudonym through the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga. Reacting to accusations from an anti-communist group, Palace officials quickly denied that Sison was here to negotiate a government of national unity.
On Thursday, the President sounded like the boy who cried wolf when he spoke of a coup plot that even his own Armed Force chief and Presidential Security Group knew nothing about. He mentioned no particular group and only said these were people who wanted to stop his anti-corruption campaign. As if on cue, his allies in the House of Representatives urged the Budget Department to spring for a bulletproof and bombproof vehicle for the President’s use.
The next day, Mr. Aquino sounded like a spokesman for the rebels when he announced that exiled rebel leader Jose Maria Sison would return to the Philippines only after a peace agreement had been reached. He even held out the possibility that Sison might join the 2013 elections, though for what position he did not say. The communists’ political allies immediately denounced Mr. Aquino’s “hallucinations,” leaving him with more egg on his face.
On Monday, his staunch ally by way of a presidential pardon, Antonio Trillanes IV, said there were bases for the coup rumors after all. Trillanes, whom Mr. Aquino had pardoned for a failed putsch against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said retired military officials were using the rumors of an impending communist takeover to recruit soldiers for an attempt to overthrow the government. He also admitted that he had passed this “intelligence” on to Mr. Aquino.
Curiously, nobody else in the defense establishment or the military ranks had monitored any such plot—giving the impression that the coup was just a secret between the President and his dim-wit golem in the Senate. Mr. Sison, all the way from The Netherlands, however, said he saw the hand of military officers loyal to Mrs. Arroyo.
As ordinary Filipinos struggle with rising fuel and energy prices and deteriorating public service and safety, we are again pressed to ask: why all this preoccupation with the communists and coup plots, real or otherwise?
Mr. Aquino, of course, has reason to fear the communists, who at least make use of an ideology however flawed it may be. The President, on the other hand, has had little to offer except a campaign of vengeance and political vendetta. That he would jump at the mere whisper of a coup indicates how shallow his administration—with its own left-leaning minions—really is.
He should take heart: Coups are usually launched against officials who have already instituted dramatic changes, for better or for worse.
Since he has done nothing of this sort, why worry?
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